2009 Racer Survey

[Robert Zecca]

On behalf of the Pro It Series and SCCA National/Regional racing in general will you be doing one of the following?

Race more this year?
The same amount?
Racing less? If so how much less?
What is the reason for racing equal or less this year?
Are you selling your car?
Are you building a car?
Are you buying a car?

I am on the board of NNJR region as secretary and this info will help us and other regions with decisions going forward this year regarding our races. It will be a very trying year. Both the regional at VIR and National at Roebling this past weekend had much lower car counts from last year. The NE seems to be stronger and I think we can pull off a great year, keep costs equal to last year and do a better job promoting events. Let me know your thoughts and thanks in advance for your help.

This survery is not from or authorized by SCCA in Topeka. This is just for information needed to make better decisions at a regional level for the upcoming year.

Thanks
Bob Zecca

[Marshall Mauney]

Racer more this year?
The same amount?
Racing less? If so how much less?

OK, I'll bite.

I plan to race more this year than last year. Last year, I did enough events to keep my license, but didn't really get serious about a points chase. This year, I plan to attend the Runoffs. The plan is for ~6 Nationals plus that big thing at RA in September.

What is the reason for racing equal or less this year?

Proper budget planning. We moved our family to a lower-cost area last fall so that we could do more "stuff".....which includes racing.

Are you selling your car?
Are you building a car?
Are you buying a car?

I bought an FE last fall, and sold my Spec Miata a few weeks ago.

[Robert Zecca]

Dear Marshall

Thanks for your responses and I wish you luck this year. Last year the SE area was down due to many reasons early in the year. The NE did very well compared to the rest of the country. I think if all boards work hard across the country and keep costs the same, give more track time and try to think "outside the box" regarding event planning including making a race weekend an event instead of just a race we will be ok. We need to worry about our workers as well as racers and make them feel appreciated and wanted.

Thanks again for your input.

Sincerely,
Bob Zecca

[iamuwere]

I plan on racing same to a little more this year.

I too bought an FE and am excited to get this nasty weather over with and seasons started.

jim

[Purple Frog]

Two races in the last two weeks.

"Spending money to keep America Great!"

Like Jim Morgan says, "Spend money on racing till you are broke, work hard, make lots of money, repeat.

The SCCA and Hoosier Tire take the money a lot slower than the "market" has for the last 6 months, and we have more fun.

Your mileage may vary.

[cooleyjb]

Racing more this year. Only had a chance for one race last year thanks to moving.

Very likely a new car will be in the garage soon and current will go up on the block.

[Evl]

Race more this year?
The same amount?
Racing less? If so how much less?

More this year...

What is the reason for racing equal or less this year?
Are you selling your car?
Are you building a car?
Are you buying a car?

Missed out on part of the season last year due to a crash in my F5. Bought an FE at the end of the season, and have been getting it out regularly so far this year... great car/class.

[D.T. Benner]

8 regional Weekends that total 13-14 races.
Money for racing is independant from money for paying bills.
Job security is not a problem (retired) and money for paying regular bills is from one of the worlds largest Pension Plans -Public Employee's Retirement System of California (not part of the State government) -if They go broke we will be living in a 3rd. world country.
At 65 I'm not missing Any chance to go racing while there's any money left.

[Keith Carter]

Considering that due to breakage in the FC last season left us sidelined for half of the races we had planned to race we will be racing more this year (or at least plan to). We are planning on racing the same amount of nationals as last year plus the Runoffs.

[Robert Zecca]

Guys,

Thanks for your input. It seems like things are very positive so far. We will see how the year goes. Regarding our region we will strive to keep costs down for the racer, bring up the track time and some added incenitives both to the racer and workers alike. We also need to find ways to increase membership. Lets see how this goes over the next week and I think we will have some good stats to work from. I will share this with everyone over in Topeka too. We just got back from the convention and we have a great team working for us in Topeka.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,
Bob Zecca

[RussMcB]

I will be shocked if 2009 entries match 2008. How can the seriously struggling economy not affect racers like everyone else? Many companies are forced to reduce staff and freeze salaries. Most everyone's savings are worth a lot less today than a year ago. For every one racer saying they'll do more racing in 2009, there must be several that either cannot, or choose not to.

A thought: Responses here on apexspeed will generally be positive (people looking forward to racing), and people who will not be racing in 2009 may not be here posting. IOW, not sure how good your survey data will be.

[cooleyjb]

I will be shocked if 2009 entries match 2008. How can the seriously struggling economy not affect racers like everyone else? Many companies are forced to reduce staff and freeze salaries. Most everyone's savings are worth a lot less today than a year ago. For every one racer saying they'll do more racing in 2009, there must be several that either cannot, or choose not to.

A thought: Responses here on apexspeed will generally be positive (people looking forward to racing), and people who will not be racing in 2009 may not be here posting. IOW, not sure how good your survey data will be.

Good points. FWIW the VIR regional this weekend had about 150 entries and I was told that in previous years it pushes 250.

[Robert Zecca]

Dear Russ

You make a great point I failed to consider and Joe thanks for the figures at VIR. I counted the entries from the National at Roebling and there were 117 cars. I am not sure what the number was in 2008. Again the NE was stronger last year then the SE but all this data is important and the more we know the better decisions can be made.The other forums sound positive like Apexspeed. We wil see???

Thanks
Bob

[azjc]

Race more this year?
The same amount?
Racing less? If so how much less?
What is the reason for racing equal or less this year?
Are you selling your car?
Are you building a car?
Are you buying a car?

In order from above...

Yes, but haven't raced since 1988
See above
N/A
N/A
No
Re-building
Bought in Sept. '08

Suspect I'll run the car 6 ~ 12 events thru the end of '09.

[harmug]

Bob, I did 18 races last year but I expect to do fewer this year. I normally race two classes on a weekend, Historic Race Group with treaded tires and HP with slicks. This year the HRG is scheduling fewer events in conjunction with SCCA events so I won't be able to get the same number of races in. I do expect to attend the same number (8 to 9 some double race /double class weekends) of events this year but with less seat time.

I'm trying to convince some friends to buy an IT car so we can run some of your enduros too.

mike

[GT1Vette]

I counted the entries from the National at Roebling and there were 117 cars. I am not sure what the number was in 2008.

According to my count (which depends on the DNS entries on MyLaps being an actual participant and not a "no show"), Roebling was 118 in 2009 compared to 132 in 2008. We currently have 95 National cars pre-registered for Road Atlanta in two weeks (not including the Trans-Am or Pro-IT groups) with a week left before pre-registration closes. We had 168 National cars in 2008, so I'll be happy (and fully expect) to have 150 National cars turn a wheel that weekend.

For budgetary purposes we figured a 10% drop in participation in 2009 compared to 2008, and that was down 12-15% from the banner year we had in 2007.

Personally I plan to race slightly fewer weekends than I did in 2008, but we're also planning a trip to Summit Point and Mid-Ohio at part of the GTA National Tour so I'll end up spending the same amount of money (assuming minimal crash repairs).

Butch Kummer
Associate Pastor, First Church of GTA
Atlanta Region Competition Director

[Robert Zecca]

I would like to thank everyone for their time and input regarding our survey.We had our board meeting last night and we will work hard to ensure a successful year for 2009. I wish everyone a safe and fun year at the track this year.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,
Robert Zecca
NNJR Secretary